CLEVELAND — Among his many skills, Shohei Ohtani must be a world-class compartmentalizer.
As his pitching rehab reaches its final stages and the baseball world speculates on his return to two-way player status – when will he pitch, should he pitch, how will he pitch – Ohtani himself must be looking forward to that day.
In the meantime, he bides his time smashing baseballs into seats.
He became the first player in the majors to 20 home runs this season, sending a two-run drive the opposite way over the high wall in left field at Progressive Field and helping the Dodgers to a 9-5 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night.
Ohtani is only the third player in Dodgers history to hit 20 home runs in the team’s first 55 games, joining Gil Hodges in 1951 and Cody Bellinger in 2019. It has only happened 64 times in baseball history, most recently before Ohtani by Pete Alonso for the New York Mets in 2023.
“What he’s doing is he’s swinging at strikes, his strikes, and he’s taking balls that are not in the hitting zone,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think if you look at that stretch, he’s walking a lot more too. When he’s willing to take the walk and be ready to hit balls in his hitting zone, that’s when you see the slug and he gets on a tear.”
This is the second time this month that Ohtani has homered in three consecutive games. He has 13 home runs in May (two short of his personal high for a calendar month, set with the Angels). While he has hit a modest .263 (15 for 57 with nine walks) over the past 14 games, more than half of those hits (eight) have been home runs.
“Little bit of jealousy, probably,” third baseman Max Muncy said of watching Ohtani’s opposite-field drive on Tuesday. “He basically mishits a fly ball today, and it was 180 (mph) off the bat or whatever it was, and still goes out.
“It’s just one of those things where he does stuff that no normal human being can do. And it’s really fun to watch. It’s really fun to see.”
Ohtani’s home runs have been as plentiful as the midges that have descended on Cleveland this week. Those annoying little flying insects had a breakout postseason in 2007, taking the national stage during Cleveland’s playoff series with the New York Yankees.
Michael Conforto’s home runs, on the other hand, seem to have come as frequently as the midges’ annual appearance. He hit a solo home run off Guardians reliever Hunter Gaddis in the sixth inning – his first homer since April 5 and only his seventh RBI of the season.
It was his second hit of the day, though, rare positive results from the veteran outfielder who came into the game batting .162 for the season with just two hits in his previous 23 at-bats – putting him in the crosshairs of a fan base with DFA fever after the release of veterans Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor.
“There’s been a lot of things that have clicked, in a lot of the work we’ve been doing. It’s kind of getting that to transfer onto the field,” said Conforto, who has hit the ball hard more often recently without getting results. “That’s kind of where some of the pitch selection comes in. If you’re not swinging at the right pitches but you’re mechanically working well, it just might not show up on the field.”
Despite his season-long slump, Conforto said he has managed to stay positive thanks to his support system – family and teammates. That support showed up after his home run when both Teoscar Hernandez and Kiké Hernandez showered him with sunflower seeds.
“I loved it. I loved it all,” Conforto said. “I heard Kiké as soon as I hit the ball, screaming. He’s been awesome and the rest of the guys have been awesome. They’ve kept it fun while it’s been tough.”
Muncy has had his own struggles, going more than 100 plate appearances into the season before hitting his first home run. He put the game out of reach with a three-run home run in the ninth inning, sending a high fastball 403 feet through the midges.
“Felt really good,” said Muncy, who stood at the plate to admire his handiwork. “Felt like I missed several pitches throughout the day. My swings have been feeling really good lately, and just haven’t gotten the power results necessarily that I wanted. I’ve been getting hits. I’m hitting the ball hard. Just haven’t been getting it to go where I want it to go. So that swing felt really good.”
The Dodgers’ offense set starter Dustin May up for success with a 4-0 lead after Ohtani’s home run in the fourth inning.
But May’s five innings Tuesday encapsulated the uneven results that have characterized his comeback season. He allowed just four hits and struck out a post-surgeries high nine. But he also gave up a three-run home run to Daniel Schneemann in the fourth inning on a sinker so poorly located that May threw his head back and his arms up in exasperation as Schneemann sent it on its way.
“I thought it was fine,” May said of his outing. “The swing-and-miss was there. Just one bad pitch. The long ball has kind of got me the last however many starts (six in his past five starts). Gotta try and figure out a way to limit that going forward.”
Schneemann’s home run briefly made the game close. But May, Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius combined to retire 14 Guardians in order and the Dodgers’ offense kept adding on, Muncy’s homer adding the final exclamation point.
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